Fathy El-Taweel

Incensole acetate prevents beta-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity in human olfactory bulb neural stem cells

β-Amyloid peptide (Aβ) is a potent neurotoxic protein associated with Alzheimers disease (AD) which causes oxidative damage to neurons. Incensole acetate (IA) is a major constituent of Boswellia carterii resin, which has anti-inflammatory and protective properties against damage of a large verity of neural subtypes. However, this neuroprotective effect was not studied on human olfactory bulb neural stem cells (hOBNSCs). Herein, we evaluated this effect and studied the underlying mechanisms. Exposure to Aβ25-35 (5 and 10 μM for 24 h) inhibited proliferation (revealed by downregulation of Nestin and Sox2 gene expression), and induced differentiation (marked by increased expression of the immature neuronal marker Map2 and the astrocyte marker Gfap) of hOBNSCs. However, pre-treatment with IA (100 μM for 4 h) stimulated proliferation and differentiation of neuronal, rather than astrocyte, markers. Moreover, IA pretreatment significantly decreased the Aβ25-35-induced viability loss, apoptotic rate (revealed by decreased caspase 3 activity and protein expression, downregulated expression of Bax, caspase 8, cyto c, caspase3, and upregulated expression of Bcl2 mRNAs and proteins, in addition to elevated mitochondrial membrane potential and lowered intracellular Ca+2). IA reduced Aβ-mediated ROS production (revealed by decreased intracellular ROS and MDA level, and increased SOD, CAT, and GPX contents), and inhibited Aβ-induced inflammation (marked by down-regulated expression of IL1b, TNFa, NfKb, and Cox2 genes). IA also significantly upregulated mRNA and protein expression of Erk1/2 and Nrf2. Notably, IA increased the antioxidant enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and this effect was reversed by HO-1 inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) leading to reduction of the neuroprotective effect of IA against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity. These findings clearly show the ability of IA to initiate proliferation and differentiation of neuronal progenitors in hOBNSCs and induce HO-1 expression, thereby protecting the hOBNSCs cells from Aβ25-35-induced oxidative cell death. Thus, IA may be applicable as a potential preventive agent for AD by its effect on hOBNSCs and could also be used as an adjuvant to hOBNSCs in cellular therapy of neurodegenerative diseases.

An Easy and Useful Noninvasive Score Based on α-1-acid Glycoprotein and C-Reactive Protein for Diagnosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Associated with Hepatitis C Virus Infection

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and develop a predictive score to improve the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). AGP and CRP were measured in serum of 53 HCC patients and 20 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, in addition to 15 healthy individuals. Area under receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs) was used to create a predictive score comprising AGP, CRP, alpha fetoprotein, and albumin. The diagnostic performances of score was determined and compared with AFP alone for the diagnosis of HCC. The combination of AGP, albumin, CRP, and AFP had AUC 0.92 and sensitivity 85% which was higher than AFP alone. The odds ratio of having HCC was 8.4 for AGP, 5.8 for CRP, 12.5 for AFP and 6.5 for albumin. Our score predicted HCC with an OR of 50.6 for HCC. The AUC of score in HCC with single tumor, absent vascular invasion and CLIP score (0–1) were 0.9, 0.9, 0.82, respectively, compared with 0.71, 0.71, 0.68, respectively, for AFP. In conclusion, a non-invasive and simple score based on AGP, CRP, AFP, and albumin could improve the accuracy of HCC diagnosis.

Water-free Dyeing of Polyester and Nylon 6 Fabrics with Novel 2-Oxoacetohydrazonoyl Cyanide Derivatives under a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Medium

A novel disperse azo dye for dyeing polyester and nylon 6 fabrics in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) fluid has been synthesized. 3-cyano acetyl indol was used as the starting material, which reacted with aryl/heteroaryl diazonium salts to afford arylhydrazonopropanenitriles. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy, and the results were observed to be in good agreement with the proposed structures. The influence of scCO2 working conditions, such as dyeing concentration, pressure, temperature, and dyeing time, on fabric color strength were studied. Moreover, the color strength was examined in detail. In addition, the position of color in CIELAB coordinates (L*, a*, b*, h*, C*) was assessed. The color fastness of the dyed samples provided excellent results. The ATR-FTIR results of the dyed samples were found to match the proposed structure.